Chapter 11.

Autopsy

It is a Monday. Or maybe it's Tuesday. Sleep is still elusive.

"Come on!" Naruto directs another blow at Sasuke's head, and he barely dodges it. He's barely dodged the last 5 attacks, for that matter. "Get your head straight, and focus here."

Sasuke can't focus on this sparring match though. He really is trying to. All he can seem to think about is the pair of glowing green eyes in the closet. His hallucination or, nightmare like Naruto still insists it was.

Sasuke makes a dive to swipe Naruto's feet from under him, but he's seen it coming. He dodges easily, and counters with a punch to Sasuke's chest. The blow isn't very painful.

Naruto isn't back up to his full strength yet. The real issue with Naruto's recovery is the demon fox. By Naruto's own estimation he is unable to call upon the fox's chakra, and he is only able to use his own chakra reserves. What's exactly is wrong with the fox, what did the Akatsuki do to it? Can it be fixed, and Naruto's full power restored? Sasuke has worried over these questions for days. Sasuke hopes these questions will be remedied, and answered soon.

The last time Sasuke had lunch with Kakashi he had let slip that Tsunade Senju was currently on her way back to the village. The team Kakashi sent out had finally tracked her down in some seedy gambling den. If there is anyone who has a shot at fixing Naruto and the fox up, it's the 5th Hokage.

There was still much to be done before their team was in any shape to pursue and kill Sasori. They needed to be at their full strength, Kakashi told him he needed to be patient. How could he be? Everyday that passed was another day that Sasori went on breathing, and Sasuke was feeling more and more useless.

The confines of Konoha were stifling. It made Sasuke want to leave again, but Kakashi was right. Sasuke would not risk failing his next mission for anything. It was going to be the most important one he'd ever been on.

When they began sparring again Sasuke and Naruto had set ground rules for it. For multiple reasons. Firstly Naruto being less than his normal strength was an unfair advantage to Sasuke. Secondly if they brought any kind of special abilities or genjutsus into it, there was a chance Kakashi would end up chewing the both of them out for decimating the training grounds. Neither of them wanted to deal with that. For their sakes, and the other shinobi who needed this area, they fought only with agreed upon handicaps. It was Taijutsu only for now.

Sasuke asked Shino Aburame to spar one day, when they were both waiting to see Kakashi. Sasuke didn't like leaving his sharingan dormant and unused for this long and he'd been itching to use it. Shino just sat there for a moment and then walked away as if Sasuke hadn't even spoken. Sasuke wondered if it was an explicit order from Shikamaru or if Shino in fact simply didn't want to spar with him.

Sasuke had sparred 2 times with Kakashi, but being Hokage kept him very busy. Sasuke can't even bring himself to be mad that no one besides his former teacher and Naruto want to spar with him. Sasuke did this to himself after all. He abandoned the village, he threw them all aside for power, they didn't owe him anything.

Naruto smirks at Sasuke. He's proud to have landed a blow.

"I'm going to make the next one really hurt." He tells Sasuke while cracking his knuckles.

"Dead last." Sasuke taunts.

Sasuke is preparing to block the coming punch, but he freezes up when green eyes pop back into his mind. Naruto decks him square in the face, and Sasuke's stomach turns when he hears a crunch.

"Fuck!" Sasuke grabs his now, bloody face. It's throbbing and every bit as painful as Naruto promised it would be. His nose has to be broken, he thinks.

Naruto is grimacing. His hands are up in the air as if to say 'oops'.

Sasuke runs his hand down the curve of his nose carefully, and it is bent an awkward angle. Definitely broken.

"Here let me." Naruto offers coming forward.

"Don't touch me."

"Well how was i supposed to know you were just going to lock up like that?"

"Shut up." Sasuke's voice isn't half as threatening as he tries to make it.

Naruto ignores his protesting, and moves Sasuke's hands away from his face.

"Ouch." Naruto comments assessing his injury. "That's got to sting."

"Yeah." Sasuke's eyes water as Naruto lightly pushes at his skin.

"I think i can set it, if you want. Either that or we can go find Hinata."

Sasuke's cheeks burn. Sasuke is hoping to avoid her if he can. He hadn't been able to properly look Hinata Hyuga in the eyes since... Naruto smirks knowingly.

"Ino might be around." Naruto suggests.

"You just do it."

"Want me to count to 3?"

"I'm not a child."

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, so brave, so strong." He mocks.

Naruto grabs a tight hold on his shoulder with 1 hand, and the other rests on Sasuke's face. They share a look, and then pain bursts anew as Naruto pulls the bone straight. Sasuke hunches over, and shoves Naruto back.

"Sorry." He says hands behind his head. "I'll buy lunch, today."

"Yeah, you will." Sasuke agrees.

"You aren't sleeping much." Naruto expects an answer to his observation, there is a pause.

Sasuke says nothing. He's glad Naruto has deduced his poor training display is from being tired. He's glad Naruto doesn't know there's more to it than just being tired.

Sasuke uses the sleeve of his shirt in an attempt to wipe away some of the blood on his face. They leave the training ground in search of lunch.

Over a bowl of Ichiraku ramen Naruto brings up Ino Yamanaka.

"You should ask her out."

"Why would i do that?" Sasuke asks puzzled.

"It'd be good for you, to go out and do something with someone other than me. Ino would be nice to you, she's good people."

"I do things with other people."

"Kakashi sensei doesn't count." Naruto tells him while sucking down a mouthful of noodles.

Sasuke doesn't mention that he tried to spar with Shino, he's not petty enough to want to turn Naruto away from a friend.

"Tch." Sasuke is suspicious of Naruto's motivation in bringing this up. What did he stand to gain, from Sasuke asking Ino out? "I'm fine thanks."

"You know you guys would have alot to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Sakura for starters. You could ask her about her."

"If i want to know anything about Sakura i can just ask you."

"Yeah but i'd bet Ino knows things about Sakura i don't. Girls tell each other everything."

Naruto wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Sasuke knows he has got to stop rising to the bait when Naruto dangles it in front of him. It's just like when they were kids and they wanted to see Kakashi's face under his mask though, Sasuke can't help himself but to be curious.

"What kinds of things?" Sasuke asks feigning imperiousness.

"Boys, sex, you know those kinds of things."

"Sakura had sex, with someone?" Sasuke can't keep the shock out of his voice, and almost chokes on a noodle. The thought had never crossed his mind that Sakura might have been with someone intimately. It's true Sasuke suspected that she might have stopped loving him at some point during his absence, but to think she might have given her body to someone who isn't him makes him jealous. Another emotion he hasn't allowed himself to feel for a long time has clawed it's way through him. Sasuke snaps his chopsticks in half.

"I wouldn't know. That's what i was saying earlier. There are some things Sakura- chan never would have told me." Naruto shrugs like the conversation is no big deal. "But i would be willing to bet Ino knows all about what Sakura did or didn't do with boys while she alive." Naruto hands him a fresh pair of chopsticks.

The thought of Sakura kissing someone, let alone having sex with someone, makes Sasuke want to burn ichiraku to the ground in a rage.

Naruto senses this.

"I gave this alot of thought before bringing it up, Sasuke. I just think that at some point we can't keep chasing a ghost. We have to move on. We have to keep living. Putting our minds on other things, will do us both some good. Hinata has been a comfort to me, these passed couple of weeks." Was that what this was? Naruto wanted Sasuke to be comforted by Ino?

Sasuke will hate himself for asking later, but he'd been mildly curious. "Was that the first time Hinata, comforted you?" They both know what he's referring to. The night Sasuke wishes he could erase entirely from his mind. Sasuke still hadn't sat on that particular couch.

Naruto chuckles. "Erm- no. We've been together for like a year now."

They were still learning about each other and relearning things for that matter. It made sense to Sasuke that Naruto hadn't divulged all the details of his own little black book yet. Perhaps if Sasuke had stayed in the village, and they experienced the trials of puberty and navigating the opposite sex together the subject of girls would be easier for them to traverse. He was beginning to understand what Naruto meant about knowing some things about Sakura, but not all of them. It doesn't matter how close you are to someone, somethings will remain unsaid.

"That nightmare you had about Sakura," Naruto shakes his head and pulls them back into his speech about moving on. "I know grieving or whatever is going to be different for both of us. But i had so much more time with her than you did. So maybe it's not a bad idea for you to talk to some of the others she was close with. Sakura's parents, and Ino. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, i promise but i only have like half the story you know? And look at it this way, if you ask Ino out, you get to chat up a nice pretty girl, and learn more about Sakura's life in 1 fell swoop."

"I don't think it's that easy." Sasuke can see where Naruto's coming from. Naruto has the comfort that Hinata offers, and Naruto thinks Sasuke can find the same in Ino. His friend trying to help him get laid is a nice gesture, albeit weird. It took years for Sasuke to come to terms with how he felt about Sakura, and it was all to little to late in the end. Sakura never even knew how Sasuke felt about her. He never got to tell her. She's been in the ground for less time than it took Sasuke to master the fireball jutsu. Even if they never so much as held hands, it feels like a betrayal to Sakura to entertain thoughts of Ino Yamanaka in any manner other than a peer.

"So you just want to be alone forever? I'm not telling you to marry Ino. Just take her out for a coffee or something. Have a nice talk with her. Pour one out for Sakura-chan together." Sasuke narrows his eyes at his friend. Naruto is working some angle here other than Sasuke scoring with Ino, he has an ulterior motive in wanting Sasuke to ask Ino out, Sasuke just can't see it yet.

"I doubt Ino will want to go anywhere with me. Shikamaru's on her team remember?"

"Ino doesn't listen to Shikamaru, the same way Sakura never listened to either of us about anything." Naruto slurps some of the broth in his bowl.

Sasuke feels something, but he doesn't know what to call it. Is it dread? Is it annoyance? Or is it hope?

Sasuke is deep in his own thoughts and he feels Naruto's eyes on him.

"What?" Sasuke demands. "Leave me alone."

"I can leave if you want me to." Naruto starts to rise from his stool.

"Just sit down and eat your damn ramen."

Naruto smirks, and sits back down.

"Just think about everything i said, okay?"

"Ok."

Sasuke can't sleep once again that night. Not sleeping was becoming his new normal. He wonders how long someone can go without sleep before it killed them. Ino would know, she might even prescribe him some sleeping medicine, if he asks but then she would get suspicious and start talking about mental health again.

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't recognize that not sleeping led to problems. It also wasn't that he thought his mental health was perfectly in order. The thing was, is that Sasuke was afraid that if he took any steps to fix his sleeping issue like pills, it might take away what he was now calling a 'gift'.

His hallucinations or nightmares or visions. Whatever they were, they were of Sakura. Sasuke didn't want to risk losing them.

Sasuke's face is still throbbing from earlier, and he wishes he had gone to a proper healer after all. Naruto is no medic.

Sasuke is wrapped in satin sheets that once belonged to a pink haired Kunoichi. He hasn't washed the sheets once in all the time he's been back in Konoha. They still smell of her, and there are bits of her hair stuck in them.

Sasuke looks at the dresser. He thinks about what's in there. He screws his eyes shut.

Packed neatly inside is a manilla folder, it doesn't have so much as a crease on it. It's still so fresh. Inside that folder are the intimate details of Sakura Haruno's death.

It is time he decides. He needs to read it. Needs to get it over with.

The first page holds only trivial details her name, age, shinobi status, just her basic information. Her fingerprints, and birth certificate make up the next page. Then details of her medical training and subsequent career are listed. Tsunade is mentioned alot. Sasuke spends more time than necessary pouring over the details of her medical career. He rereads it probably 3 separate times. He likes the thought of Sakura helping people, healing them at the hospital, it is just so her, so pure. Another page details the various missions she had taken part of. Team 7 is mentioned, and Sasuke's own name comes up. But it's been redacted several times, with the name Sai replacing it. He hates that Sai became his replacement. But it had to be someone. Who would be taking Sakura's spot on team 7 now?

There are pages that are laminated that Sasuke decided to avoid until he had read over everything else. They are the reports of her failed final mission. They will be the hardest to read through.

According to some intel the leaf had received from a redacted source, Sasori of the red sand was going traveling. The source had given up his destination, and time of arrival. Sasori was an S- rank criminal, and a known member of the akatsuki. Konoha needless to say, had quite an interest in Sasori only for the fact he was involved with the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki was still currently trying to capture the tailed beasts, the leaf village knew eventually they would come for Naruto. It was imperative to gather any intel on him that they could.

Sasuke's own brother had been a part of Akatsuki after the massacre of their clan. Sasuke didn't much care for the Akatsuki then, and he especially hates them now.

Sakura's and Naruto's mission had been to go and observe Sasori to gather intel, there was never supposed to be a fight. Kakashi never would have sent them by themselves if he'd known it was actually an ambush.

Sasori hadn't been alone. He and his partner Deidara had plotted against Sasuke's teammates. The intel was a ruse, and it's purpose had been to lure Naruto out into the open. Sasori and Deidara had been ruthless and cunning. They had the 2 genin separated before they even knew what was happening. Together they might have stood a chance, but apart they were to distracted, to worried for each other.

Sasuke knew Sakura like the back of his own hand at one time, only. He knew it didn't matter though because Sakura at 12, and Sakura at 18 would have fought tooth and nail to get back to Naruto. It was absolute.

Naruto had been held up in his own fight with Deidara, and Sakura as far as the reports indicated held her own valiantly. The killing blow had come at Sakura's back, through her back. Sasori took her out with a cheap shot. The coward.

Naruto had been lucky there was another team from the leaf in the area. If it hadn't been for Neji Hyuga's byakugan they might not have been able to help Naruto when they did. When Rock Lee's team showed up, Deidara ran for it. Then the group of them were able to locate Sakura.

Sasuke pictures Naruto's crestfallen face at finding Sakura's body cold. He pictures Naruto cradling her dead body, with her lifeless eyes unseeing. For what Sasuke knows, Naruto has seen it's a miracle he's still functioning. Then again long before this Naruto and Sasuke had not been strangers to the cruelty of life. Both orphaned far to young, and they had been unwilling witnesses to, to many atrocities to count. Naruto said he had nightmares to.

PTSD, Ino had tried to talk to them about at the hospital. Among the long list of things wrong with them, Sasuke decides PTSD has to be one of them.

The injury described in the autopsy would have been instant death. Sasuke is glad for that.

The truth of it was that the second they were separated Sakura's fate was sealed. She was strong, and smart, but she was no S- ranked ninja. Sasuke knew exactly how these guys thought. They would have decided to deal with her, the weaker link first, then when she was disposed of they could deal with Naruto together.

Sasuke never thought a day would come that he would be thankful for Rock lee's existence but here it was. He was thankful for Lee's entire team, actually, because without them Sasuke might have buried 2 teammates. The Akatsuki would have stolen the 9 tailed fox and left Naruto's dead body somewhere in the same manner they had Sakura.

An autopsy was performed on Sakura. Her blood was drawn. She had been poisoned at some point, but she had also counteracted the poison. Sasuke felt proud, that even in the heat of a battle she had been able to make herself an antidote. She really had fought like hell to survive. The contents of her stomach were listed. Each of her organs removed, and weighed. She had been dissected like some science experiment. Sasuke understood the necessity of it, it was valuable to know what had happened to her, because it might help the rest of team 7 avenge her. They knew how Sasori attacked now, not only with poisons but also with his weapons. Pulling the secrets out of Sakura's body might ensure her team did not fail when they met Sasori for their own battle.

There were photographs of her autopsy. Sasuke tried not to look at them for 2 reasons. Firstly they were gruesome. Her body was covered in blood, her clothes saturated with it, even her hair had taken on a darker hue. There were deep cuts on her face, and lacerations on her arms. One of her arms was bent at a ghastly angle, and when Sasuke saw it he had to close the folder for a time before he could look again. The killing blow at her back had been from some kind of steel beam, it had been removed prior to the photos but someone had drawn a digram to go along with it. The second reason Sasuke tried not to look at the photos was because she was nude. Sasuke had never seen any woman naked, and the first time he knew shouldn't have been the photos in this envelope. This envelope of horrors. He knew Sakura was gone in the photos, her soul was somewhere else now, but that had once been her flesh.

Naruto had seen these pictures, Kakashi had seen these, and now Sasuke. The three of them had seen her most intimate parts without her permission, and it made Sasuke's stomach turn. Now Sasuke knew why Kakashi couldn't stomach to eat anything.

Sasuke pulls out the photo he had stored in the envelope, of team 7. Why couldn't he have just smiled for 1 damn picture?

Then something occurs to him. Sasuke rifles back through the folder. He plucks up an autopsy photo of her non broken arm. It has scratches and cuts on it and a ring on one finger exactly like the hand from the closet had. How could Sasuke have hallucinated a ring he never even knew existed? A sense of dread sinks in.

Author's note/ So i would love to hear your theories. Is Sasuke crazy? Is Sakura alive? Or is something else entirely different going on? On a random note have we all heard Mary on a cross- Ghost? Cause that is all i listened to for this chapters creation. Also i am currently working on the closing chapters for this story. I am unwell. If you've read any of my other works you know how my endings tend to go. In the words of Ron Weasley "So… you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it."